18 U.S.C. § 2322 : US Code - Section 2322: Chop shops

Search 18 U.S.C. § 2322 : US Code - Section 2322: Chop shops

(a) In General. -
(1) Unlawful action. - Any person who knowingly owns, operates,
maintains, or controls a chop shop or conducts operations in a
chop shop shall be punished by a fine under this title or by
imprisonment for not more than 15 years, or both. If a conviction
of a person under this paragraph is for a violation committed
after the first conviction of such person under this paragraph,
the maximum punishment shall be doubled with respect to any fine
and imprisonment.
(2) Injunctions. - The Attorney General shall, as appropriate,
in the case of any person who violates paragraph (1), commence a
civil action for permanent or temporary injunction to restrain
such violation.
(b) Definition. - For purposes of this section, the term "chop
shop" means any building, lot, facility, or other structure or
premise where one or more persons engage in receiving, concealing,
destroying, disassembling, dismantling, reassembling, or storing
any passenger motor vehicle or passenger motor vehicle part which
has been unlawfully obtained in order to alter, counterfeit,
deface, destroy, disguise, falsify, forge, obliterate, or remove
the identity, including the vehicle identification number or
derivative thereof, of such vehicle or vehicle part and to
distribute, sell, or dispose of such vehicle or vehicle part in
interstate or foreign commerce.